[simone]

Ok guys, this has been bugging me all day. What im trying to do is, pull information from a DB table, and display them in an html table that has more then one <td> per <tr>. The catch is, im using a template system, so it's kinda over my head. Basically this is how i want my info to look on the page :


http://www.sk4nk.org/images/loopexample.gif

Am i thinking right, that i have to use a loop? and if anyones willing to write up a simple code, that i can work with to get everything how i want it, i'd be so happy

[blaw]

Hi there,

Whenever I need to do this, I usually use 2 for loops (i.e. nested) - the outer keeps track of num_rows and the inner <td>'s per <tr>.

But with the given info it's hard to say if this fits your particular template engine.

Good night.

[simone]

any tutorials? im only a php hobbiest

[Goran]

I got an error the first time I tried to see the image. But I'll take a guess at an answer.

If I'm just trying to display things and I don't need to know or care how many rows get shown I usually just place things inside of an open loop.


$query = "SELECT 1st_item, 2nd_item, 3rd_item FROM mydatabase";
$result=mysql_query($query) or die("Could not run the database query!");
while ($r = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
extract ($r);
echo"<tr>\n";
echo"<td>".$1st_item."</td>\n";
echo"<td>".$2nd_item."</td>\n";
echo"<td>".$3rd_item."</td>\n";
echo"</tr>\n";
}

The "\n" acts like a typewriter carrige return starts a new line for the next item to be displayed in the source code. It makes it eaiser to read when debugging.


Hope it helps.

Goran


Added:

I just got in and saw your image. Sorry. What I passed would only work for a row to row match. The post after mine will give you what you want.

G

[blaw]

Hi there,

Here's an example with while-for loop nest:

PHP Code:

echo '<table>';



// Note that $res is mysql result id.

// $i keeps track of the number of <td>'s fetched.

while ($i < mysql_num_rows($res)) {

    

    // $j keeps track of the number of rows.

    // In this example there will be 3 <td>'s per <tr>

    for ($j = 0; $j < 3; $j++) {

        $row = mysql_fetch_array($res);

        // Fetch output. I used the first field of each row, but this depends on your script.

        $rows .= '<td>'.$row[0].'</td>';

        // Increment $i.

        $i++;

    }

    

    // Output this row.

    echo '<tr>'.$rows.'</tr>';



}



echo '</table>'; 

Please read the comments carefully.
Good luck!

[simone]

ohh thanks blaw! i'll go see if i can work with that

[blaw]

You're welcome. =)

Correction:

$i: Keeps track of the number of <tr>'s (rows)
$j: Keeps track of the number of <td>'s (columns)

I put them the other way around and told you to read it carefully... Excuse me.

[simone]

mmkay, i finally got it to work. ...but now i want to add to it ...i want 12 items to appear even if their isnt 12 rows in the database.

So just say there's 5 items in the databse ...i want them to pull up, and i also want another 7 items saying "submit yours" or whatever ..i just tried a few things then, but all it did was duplicate the items in the DB ..any advice?

[simone]

hmmm ok, i just noticed, it's not limiting the amount of of <td>'s per column.

[blaw]

Hi there, sorry about the limiting thing. You need to reset the fetched <td>s each time, which I forgot to add. But together with your request, here it is:

PHP Code:

echo '<table>';



// Note that $res is mysql result id.

// $i keeps track of the number of rows (<tr>).

// In this example, you will get 12 items/cells in total = $i(4) * $j(3).

for ($i = 0; $i < 4; $i++) {

    

    // New row starts.

    echo '<tr>';

    

    // $j keeps track of the number of cols (<td>).

    // In this example there will be 3 <td>'s per <tr>

    for ($j = 0; $j < 3; $j++) {

        

        // See if there is still a fetchable row in the result.

        if ($row = mysql_fetch_array($res)) {

            echo '<td>'.$row[0].'</td>';

        }

        // If not, show the dummy link.

        else {

            echo '<td><a href="submit.php">Submit Yours</a</td>';

        }

    

    }

    

    // This row ends.

    echo "</tr>\n";



}



echo '</table>'; 

Note that I'm echoing right away instead of fetching it. Also, this time I tested it, so there should be no problem. If you still want to use the output-once-in-the-end approach, try reseting the fetched columns after echoing it.

Hope this helps. Sorry about the hassle.